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Farmer Fertilizer Focus - UAN

By: Josh Linville, Vice President- Fertilizer

UAN (28% / 32%)
 
Josh Linville
Senior Risk Management Consultant
What everyone wants to know first, what do we think will happen going forward
Current UAN price ideas for the summer reset (if you want to call it a reset, I'm struggling with that description) continue to rise every week.  Producers are being rewarded by being patient on rolling out their programs.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it is going to get any cheaper in the near term.  If we break it down to the basics, producers have absolutely no pressure on them today to make sales.  
  • Inventories are low coming out of spring so there are plenty of tanks to fill
  • Urea markets continue to climb by the day which makes UAN look cheap in comparison
  • Expectations for the 2022 corn crop acreage estimations are currently discussed around 91 - 92M acres
  • Grain values continue to hold most gains

I could go on.  There are still avenues where prices can come under pressure but even if that happens, it will take some time to actually affect price ideas.  

Get used to the idea that values will be 1.5 times higher than last summer.  Also, don't shoot the messenger.

What has happened in the last 30 days?
Forward prices ideas have risen substantially

The UAN paper market is a great indication for where the market expects prices to go.  Q3/Q4 '21 UAN has been trading at ever increasing values.  In the last several weeks, those values have increased almost $100 .  More and more market factors continue to lean in favor of production which means values will be high.  Urea markets continue to climb which causes UAN to climb as part of spread trades.  

Otherwise, pretty quiet as the market waits for summer fill programs to be announced.

If you are wondering why your suppliers have not been talking much about spring '22 UAN pricing, it is due to the fact that no programs have been announced.  With spring still happening, producers are focusing on that rather than looking ahead.  From their POV, why wouldn't they.  Seems like every week they wait, price ideas jump double digits....

Where are current values in relation to the past
For UAN, we use NOLA/New Orleans Louisiana as our base point as it is the easiest spot to track.
  • Vs 30 days ago - +3% or approximately $10 higher
  • Vs 90 days ago - +5% or approximately $15 higher
  • Vs 6 months ago - +146% or approximately $181 higher
  • Vs 1 year ago - +124$ or approximately $169 higher
Bull/Bear Factors
Because no market is ever guaranteed to go higher/lower, we try to consider the factors that can sway values so that we are able to act when they occur rather than react.
Bullish Factors
  • Inventories are tight coming out of the spring season – while there is still a little spring application in front of us, all indications are pointing to inventories being near zero when the bell rings.  Empty tanks across North America means that producers have plenty of space to fill and do not feel as though they need to compete hard to sell.  More that they get to sit back and let demand come to them.
  • CF's veiled threat to Russian UAN producers regarding a possible CVD case should keep excessive imports from arriving in the U.S. – during their last earnings call, CF made a brief statement regarding gathering information in case they pursue a Counter Vailing Duty case against Russian imports.  In 2019, summer fill programs began, values began to rise and then imports started to flood the market until it became too much and prices dropped until spring.  Last summer, prices were so low due to that import fear.  Now, CF is basically warning that if the import flood happens again, they will go after that case to put a stop to them.
  • Current values are still "cheap" compared to the last time corn values were this high and demand remains solid as we currently expect 91 - 92M acres of corn in 2022 – the last time we were in this price range, UAN was higher priced still.  The market could still view current values as cheap and push prices higher still.
Bearish Factors
  • Russian producers may call CF's bluff – CVD cases are extremely expensive, require a lot of time by the company calling for it and results in a bit of a black eye from a PR standpoint.  Russian producers realize this and may call CF's bluff that they will go after a case if imports start to rise.  At current values, I'm guess it is worth a shot.
  • UAN is really high priced vs last summer and may scare demand away – UAN worries me and I'm not even taking long or short positions.  These are really high prices.  Last year, values were so low that it was an almost no brainer of a decision to buy.  This year, there is still plenty of upside potential but tons of downside as well.  That risk fear may cause demand to drag their feet.
  • Current UAN/Urea price spreads should mean more UAN produced this fertilizer year – last summer, UAN was so cheap that domestic production facilities leaned more toward urea production in lieu of UAN (modern facilities have that ability, cannot go all one product or another but can lean).  This year, the price of UAN and Urea is close enough that it will be more balanced which means more supplies available.
UAN VALUES ARE HIGHER. GRAIN VALUES ARE HIGHER. ARE WE BETTER OR WORSE OFF THAN WHERE WE WERE?
We believe that only looking at the flat price of either grains or fertilizer can be misleading:
  • Only selling grain can hurt you if fertilizer prices rise substantially;
  • Only buying fertilizer can hurt you if grain prices fall.
We look at the ratio "value" to get a better indication of where we are or how many bushels of X does it take to pay for 1 ton of fertilizer.
Would you rather:
  • Spend 60 bushels to pay for 1 ton of UAN;
  • Spend 30 bushels to pay for 1 ton of UAN.
When we compare the current ratio value against recent years, we start to see if we are high or low.
YOUR VALUES WILL LOOK DIFFERENT
This graph looks at the NOLA UAN price vs the flat grain price. There are no logistics on either product. Your location will look different due to fertilizer logistical costs, grain basis, etc.
image 13634
image 13635
image 13636
 
 
 
Josh Linville’s Thoughts
  • Not going to lie, current UAN values worry me.  The problem is I cannot decide if they worry me because they could continue to push higher or that they worry me because they could fall $100 and still not be near last summers pricing.  If you drag your feet on making purchases and values continue to rise, you will kick yourself for not stepping in.  If you do purchase tons and then grain prices start to fall, a current bad grain/UAN ratio will get so much worse.  
  • If you are uncomfortable with these types of values, remember that you have time on your side.  Phosphate and potash is a little harder because fall will be here before we know it.  UAN will not hit the ground until next spring.  That's 9 months away.  We could see the entire industry change in that amount of time (remember where we were last August....).  If you are not a fan, remember that you can wait.  As a buyer, that is your right. 
  • If you are going to wait on buying, at least have a conversation with your supplier.  Keep them in the loop.  They take just as much (and sometimes) more risk than anyone in the fertilizer supply chain.  Giving them a heads up that you are changing your patterns will allow them to be better prepared.
 
 
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